The proliferation of the Internet has provided numerous business opportunities for the exploitation of information. A web site is a conventional means for presenting information to a user traversing on the World Wide Web. Graphics are often used to capture the attention of a user visiting a web site. One problem that often arises in the development of web sites is the format of the graphics data that is to be presented. More specifically, users often experience delay while graphics objects are downloaded for presentation on a user display. The delay associated with the publication of a graphics object is related to the both the format of the data (e.g., file format) and the compression used when storing the data that is retrieved.
At least two graphic file formats are universally compatible with World Wide Web browsers: GIF and JFIF/JPEG. The joint photographic experts group (JPEG) compression standard is supported by the JFIF file format. As used herein, the “JPEG” or “JPEG/JFIF” format refers to files that are formatted in accordance with the JFIF format that include data compressed using the JPEG compression standard. A key element for creating successful graphics for web pages is reducing the file size for rapid downloads. Because compression has negative side effects such as artifacts, the web site developer is tasked with determining the optimum trade off between file size and image quality. In order for the graphics to be visually effective, the image quality must be maintained at an appropriate level. At the same time, the file size should be minimized to reduce the delay when downloading the graphics object.